


And Old Huggy Bear, Too

by vassalady



Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Character Study, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 20:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12661275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vassalady/pseuds/vassalady
Summary: Huggy Bear has "friends," but notfriends. Not like a certain pair of jokers he knows.





	And Old Huggy Bear, Too

Huggy Bear Brown was a very well known and very popular man. He cultivated both knowledge and trust like a Japanese bonsai tree. Needed some help? Go to Huggy. Needed some quick cash? Go to Huggy. Needed to lay low for awhile? Go to Huggy. Need to get the word to the cops about that abusive ex husband who won’t stop following you around? Go to Huggy.

Yes, Huggy Bear prided himself on being the smoothest, coolest cat in town. To the right people, at least. 

Somehow, it wasn’t enough.

Huggy wasn’t an envious man. Far from it. But for all that people liked him, Huggy had no one whom he considered a friend. “Friends” were aplenty, but those friends only wanted what Huggy could provide.

Maybe that’s why he would let those two jokers who called themselves detectives hang around more than was good for business. Maybe that’s why he didn’t mind if they didn’t pay up their tab when it was due. 

Starsky and Hutch were bread and butter, Sonny and Cher, two peas in a pod. Sure, Huggy wasn’t _their_ friend, but maybe what they had would rub off. 

When they started asking for bigger favors, Huggy didn’t object. When they started friendly wagers at the pool table, Huggy was happy to weigh his odds. When they invited him to dinner at one of their pads, well, Huggy wasn’t one to turn down a good meal.

When he was at their sick beds, and they were at his, well, it was just natural, wasn’t it? Making sure he would be able to be up and give them the lowdown on this con or that, and he to make sure that they could pay up in return. 

There wasn’t anything more to it, surely. 

So the invitations to lunches and parties, to picnics and walks and bowling, to the movies and games, and the sharing of joys and losses, they were just a continuation of that. Because if they meant more, that meant Huggy could be let down. That meant Huggy could let them down.

That meant hurt and sorrow and anger, and Huggy had had it up to here with all that long ago.

So when the hurt and sorrow and anger came, Huggy couldn’t deny it anymore. He also couldn’t deny that there was also joy and fun and love.

Starsky and Hutch would always be Starsky and Hutch. There was no getting between the two. But sometimes, maybe there could be Starsky and Hutch and old Huggy Bear, too.

And that would be just fine.


End file.
